UNITED STATES

Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings has approached Nasdaq to buy its 30 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

With a slowing economy could the job market see declines this holiday season?

Commodities indexes remain popular even after this summer's market turmoil.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, sending the broader market to its best week in five months, as surprisingly strong economic data eased concerns about the economy's health and investors bet equities may be stabilizing after weeks of turmoil.

Three Asian banks' heavy exposure to the limping U.S. home loan sector reinforced global credit wobbles on Friday but Germany, France and Italy saw no signs of new problems.

U.S. stocks advanced on Friday as a jump in oil prices boosted energy stocks and an unexpected rise in July new home sales calmed worries about the economy.

Profit at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. could take a big hit if the U.S. brokerage heavyweight cuts the value on nearly $1 billion in subprime lender assets it bought just eight months ago.

Betting on Qualcomm Inc should be an easy decision for an investor looking for wireless assets but the company's myriad legal battles could make it a risky choice compared with rivals like Nokia and Texas Instruments Inc.

Sales of new single-family U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in July and new orders for durable goods posted strong gains that underlined the economy's strength just before a credit crisis socked financial markets.

Gold steadied in cautious European trade on Friday after cutting overnight losses but remained vulnerable as worries about credit market turmoil persisted, analysts said.

The dollar weakened broadly on Friday as lingering worries about the recent global credit and liquidity squeeze outweighed surprisingly strong U.S. economic data.

The owners of stricken state lender SachsenLB aim to sell the German bank quickly after its near collapse under heavy losses from U.S. subprime mortgages and other risky debt, sources familiar with the matter said.

Fannie Mae's mortgage portfolio swelled in July, when the largest U.S. home funding company bought up cheap mortgage-backed debt, leaving it scant room to grow under current limits set by its regulator.

India's Tata Group is interested in acquiring Ford Motor Co's Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the Indian conglomerate's chairman Ratan Tata said in remarks released on Friday.

Stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data boosted stocks on Friday while bonds held early gains and the dollar fell. European stocks also got a lift from the U.S. data.

Stocks rose on Friday, after data showed new home sales unexpectedly rose in July and new orders for durable goods surged, reassuring investors about the economy's health, although credit concerns remained.

Sales of new single-family U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in July and new orders for durable goods posted strong gains that underlined the economy's strength just before a credit crisis socked financial markets. New home sales rose 2.8 percent to an 870,000 annual pace last month, reversing two months of declines.

Monster.com waited five days to tell its users about a security breach that resulted in the theft of confidential information from some 1.3 million job seekers. Hackers broke into the site's resume library in one of the biggest Internet security breaches in recent memory.

U.S. private equity firm TPG is still interested in bidding for loss-making airline Alitalia and is waiting to see what conditions management would put on the sale, a source close to TPG said on Friday.

New orders for long-lasting U.S.-made manufactured goods surged a much bigger-than-expected 5.9 percent in July, the biggest gain since September, and a business investment gauge posted the first gain in three months, a Commerce Department report showed on Friday.

Three Asian banks' heavy exposure to the limping U.S. home loan sector reinforced global credit wobbles on Friday but Germany, France and Italy saw no signs of new problems.